Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Defining the Relationship

Smells gooood!
Thank you for sharing all of your fabulous childhood memories with me. I loved all your answers. In case you missed them- here are some fabulous ones:

My lovely sister in law:The smells that remind me of my childhood are mangoes , my uncle had a
mango ranch and every time they were in season we got huge boxes of
that yellow goodness!Good times :)JessicaComfort food scents remind me of my childhood, but I'd have to go more
with perfumes my mom used to wear and other scents like that.Anne Marie My grandmom or mom's homemade spaghetti gravy reminds me of my childhood.Ildie: DILL. Fresh dill. My mama used to make all of her own pickled vegetables and she loved adding dill. :)Shannon :I have so many smells that trigger childhood memories. There is a
certain flower smell that reminds me of summer in Woods Hole (Cape
Cod). Always makes me smile.Kalin: the smell of tomato plants (the plants themselves have a distinctive
scent) makes me think of childhood. we grew a ton of 'em as a kid, and
i was always roaming through our tomato patch stuffing my face with
them.Jolene: I agree with Kalin about the tomato plants - they totally remind me of
my childhood. So does campfire smell, and chocolate chip cookies!Mothe smell of meatballs and baked ziti remind me of sitting in grannies
kitchen testing her meatballs. we both knew they were ready for hte
sauce but we both liked to "taste" them... for quality assurance... Gabriela :The smell of my house after being away from it always reminds me of
childhood...I love this place, and it holds so many memories!! Chlorine
is another childhood smell, from spending way too many days in my pool
as a kid!

So very awesome- as are all of you! I love that you were able to share some fun memories mixed with delicious smells.

The Talk...In the past few months I have been working through a bit of a workout "defining the relationship talk". I don't call it a break-up, but more of a pause to evaluate things.
I am not a runner, I don't have any kind of a sport to build endurance or strength for (unless you count power chocolate eating or shopping), and I am not looking to lose a significant amount of weight. To add to that, I also don't follow a strict diet (makes me rebel and go apes*it), nor am I vegetarian, vegan, high protein, or gluten-free.
None of these things have meant that I have gone to the gym for less than 4 days a week or not enjoyed my time there, but I seem to always be looking for the next new thing when really, I have fun doing my own thing. I love making up an obstacle course among the juiceheads at my gym, running on the treadmill for no particular length of time or distance while listening to music so embarrassing I sometimes take my headphones off to make sure I'm the only one who can hear it, or benching by myself with no spotter (doesn't matter that it's just the bar with the Cheerio size weights or that the person next to me smells like poop) only because I want to know that I can.
I know a bit of focus is good, but I like coming in with a general plan and then doing my own thing. Maybe one day I'll have a hard core training plan, but for now, I hit all the muscles once a week and do my cardio thang.
The other day I ran 3 miles for fun and lifted shoulders like a maniac (shoulders are my favorite).
I think I'm in the happy, butterflies in the tummy stage of the relationship. I think there is still a little mystery left and the open door peeing policy is NOT welcome.

The Other Talk...

Another item that I have been defining lately is my relationship with meat. I am not a huge fan, but eat organic chicken or wild fish maybe once a week. I don't crave meat, but if I do, I want it to be from a reliable source. I know there are a lot of fabulous veggie bloggers and I love them all, but I just can't commit either way and I ain't gonna. Plus, I have an irrational fear of anything that is supposed to taste like meat but isn't. No veggie hot dogs or chicken nuggets for this girl.
I love tofu, but I'm not sold on its benefits or harm, so when I eat soy, I go for fermented soy in the form of tempeh. I tried it again in my Tempeh Tacos, and I am pretty sure this one and I are in it for the long haul! Really, I want to marry tempeh.

When your tempeh is hot enough, build your taco with Mango Salsa an LOTS of guacamole or toppings of your choice

Devour along with the whole farmer's market tomato

While I'm at it, I have to gush about my real relationship. My husband spent his evening helping me do my grad school finance homework for fun tonight because he is a math genius. He also washed all the dishes and is patiently waiting for me to come to bed so we can have our Modern Family date. If that isn't love, I don't know what is. I'm off like a prom dress!

Tell me about your gym/workout relationship- is it true love? I also want to hear about all the things you are training for!

I definitely had a lot of relationship talks with seafood before I went veg. It was an ugly break-up, and I still miss it everyday. Sigh.

I have a loving relationship with my workouts, simply because of the way they make me feel. I mix it up though...play the field, if you will. ;-) Monogamy just ain't for me! (when it comes to workouts, that is, lol)

i was falling madly in love with my gym but my dog got jealous and destroyed my bedroom. i have to deal with exercise on demand for now..its so perfect that im reading this now as there is a box of soft taco kit sittin gon my counter and some freezer burned turkey chop meat taht i was going ot put to gether and i didnt think of hte tofu that is sitting patiently in my fridge. you are a genius. And thanks for lovin on my baked ziti memory. later that day i called grannie to tell her i loved her and promised to make her some ziti... then she lectured me on using too much salt.

Good questions! I love your working out philosophy. Its fun and you do it consistently. What more can you ask for? I am using the elliptical a lot lately because I pulled a groin muscle running. But I really want to get back into running. I don't realize how much I love it until I can't do it!

I am the same way with meat. I don't call myself a vegetarian because I will eat meat. But i just never crave it....except for seafood. I'll never give up seafood!

Oh the gym and our love/hate realtionship!!! I sometimes get bored with the gym adn need to switch things up, I always use the elliptical, and for the first time the other day I ran on the treadmill and it felt good! I love to switch it up at the gym, cause if not I feel like its a job to go to the gym, like I have to report the elliptical 5 days a week, and that only! lol!

I've recently gotten into running (about 5 times a week). I'm really pushing myself with this. I used to not be able to run for a 2 minutes and I'm slowly building up time. I'm not training for anything (as of now) but we'll see later on.

I grew up taking high energy dance classes and feel like that is where I belong.

Don't feel like you have to fit the strict diet and gym rat lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with that! But there is also nothing wrong with the way you choose to go about things either. :)